Thursday, April 20, 2017

Without Succesful Implementation, Your Tech Is Doomed

Hardware or software, bringing new tech into the business is usually an important part of scaling, whether it’s taking on new responsibilities entirely or making current responsibilities a lot easier to handle. A successful implementation makes you and your employees’ lives easier, but it doesn’t always go that way. A few spanners in the works of that implementation can make your new tech more a detriment to the business than an aid.

Reason your needs
Some business owners tend to get carried away when they see something new or shiny. They might hear of a system or a device that another business uses and the benefits it offers them and think that they could use a piece of that as well. But an important part of scaling the tech in any business is thinking directly about what needs you have and how any new implementation will help you solve them. You need to think about how new tech will impact productivity and the achievement of results so you can do the math on how soon you can see a return on investment. Otherwise, you’re paying for a loss.

Highlight potential risks
New tech is meant to make your life easier, but actually managing it can make your life harder. You need to think about potential risks to that tech and how you deal with those costs and fears. For instance, are you willing to pay for an extensive security system on a connected network of computers? Can you afford to replace and maintain new tools and devices over a long period of time?

Find reliable suppliers
If it’s hardware you’re looking at, then you need to have a direct line to people who can supply and fit parts. Whether that’s a service that can improve the ram on a whole host of computers or manufacturing suppliers who can fit new fluid transfer systems. Whatever kind of tech you’re implementing, it is likely to need replacement parts if you want to keep it living longer. Failing to anticipate that can result in huge periods of downtime where none of your devices work and your business processes don’t get completed.

Train your staff
Of course, the most important part of properly implementing new tech is making sure that anyone can actually use the stuff. Nearly every person in a modern office should have some form of basic IT training, but when it comes to much more in-depth packages like Salesforce, it means a whole new host of skills to learn. You might need to set aside some planned downtime focusing on intensively getting your team caught up to new methods of doing their work or phase trained users in piece-by-piece. What you can’t do is just expect them to learn on the fly.

You need to think through every step of introducing new tech to the business. You can’t just throw it in there and hope to adapt to its needs on the fly. Make sure you, your processes, and your team are ready for the change any updates and upgrades are going bring.